Liberalising trade in climate-friendly goods under the framework of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade

Climate change implications have infiltrated all sectors of society and the world can no longer adopt a 'business as usual' attitude. The unprecedented nature of these implications renders it difficult to address in a swift manner the challenges that arise. Anthropogenic GHG emissions are largely responsible for climate change and fossil fuel-based energy uses are considered to be the biggest contributor to these emissions. The need to reduce the rate of these emissions is an uncontested issue. It has been suggested that one of the options would be to scale up sustainable energy sources through a shift to cleaner and low-carbon transport fuels and technologies. This shift to cleaner energy resources could be achieved in numerous different manners; however, this dissertation will consider how a Sustainable Energy Trade Agreement could contribute to this shift as one option amongst among a myriad of other steps that need to be taken to mitigate climate change. This dissertation considers how the liberalisation of trade in CFGs can assist in this shift to cleaner energy resources. As is illustrated the process of liberalising trade in CFGs has been hindered by several issues. A proposal has emerged for a Sustainable Energy Trade Agreement that could render assistance to the issues that arise with the liberalisation of CFGs as well as expedite the liberalisation process. The ultimate question that this dissertation seeks to address is whether a SETA-type agreement entered into by certain WTO Members would be compatible under the GATT.

Reference:

Ferreira, C. 2015. Liberalising trade in climate-friendly goods under the framework of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. University of Cape Town.